The HungerCount Report
The HungerCount report establishes an up-to-date understanding of hunger in Canada in order to support advocacy for change. It is a comprehensive report on hunger and food bank use in Canada, with recommendations for change
December 2021
As 2021 wraps up, the Board of Directors of the Food Bank is filled with immense gratitude for the generosity of the folks in the Boundary and beyond. From individuals and families to school groups, sports teams, businesses and organizations, you have showed your kindness and compassion to the less fortunate in our region and we thank you.
Despite ongoing Covid gathering restrictions and masking requirements, we’ve managed to capture a few of the recent donations in photo. There are many, many more people who contributed to the Food Bank, whether it was a monetary donation, a donation of food, personal hygiene products, or produce from their farm or garden, by contributing their time (Thank you to our amazing volunteers!), or by gifting us the proceeds of your empty returnable containers through our Return-It program. We are so thankful for your support.
Summer 2021
What a busy summer it’s been at the Food Bank. One of the things we recognize is that it takes more than food to solve hunger. That’s why we’ve added a Little Free Library, where clients can choose books, magazines and puzzles. One person told us that, now we are feeding her soul, not just her body. We’ve also partnered with Read On Canada, a program that is addressing declining literacy rates during the Covid-19 pandemic by providing free books for children.
Thanks to Food Banks Canada and Subway restaurants, we’ve also been able to provide additional healthy snacks for children during the summer months, through the After the Bell program. And we’ve once again run the Farmer’s Market coupon program. Our clients love this program, which gives them coupons for shopping for local, fresh produce at the Farmer’s Market.
Ongoing Fundraiser
We are starting an on-going fundraiser to raise money for the Food Bank. We’re asking people to donate the proceeds of their returnable containers to us, kind of a hands-off bottle drive. You take your containers to the Recycling Depot in bags, no sorting needed, and the funds are deposited to the Food Bank account.
How it works:
- Put your containers in clear plastic bags, no sorting needed!
- Pick up one or more pre-printed labels at the Food Bank, any Tuesday between 10 am and 3 pm. Or, at any Express depot, print your labels at the kiosk using phone number 250-442-2800, remember one label per bag.
- Put a label on each of your bags and drop them off at a Return-It Depot. In Grand Forks, the depot is located at 8058 Donaldson Drive and is open Mon-Tues 9:30 am – 4 pm and Thurs-Fri-Sat, 10 am – 4 pm.
- Your containers will be sorted and the Food Bank’s Express account will be credited with the refund.
PLEASE DO NOT DROP YOUR CONTAINERS OFF AT THE FOOD BANK.
Visit https://express.return-it.ca for more information
May 8, 2021
We had another fun and successful plant sale this year, generating over $1400 for the Food Bank. Thanks to all who donated plants, helped at the sale, and of course, the shoppers!
April, 2021
What an amazing (birthday!) gift. Thanks to Everett Baker and family for donating these wonderful books, which are part of our new Birthday Bag program. In the month of their child’s birthday, parents of kids (ages 2 – 16) get to fill a bag with a cake mix, icing, candles, a book and a small gift.
April 2021
Thanks to Home Hardware, who donated $500 to the Food Bank, from raffle profits for a new trike!
January 26, 2021
Today students from the GFSS Global Citizen’s Club dropped off 100 bags of toiletry items that they had collected. What a thoughtful and much needed donation. Thank you! Pictured here are 4 of the students, with a group of our Food Bank volunteers.
December 22, 2020
What an amazing community we live it! The Food Bank received donations from numerous individuals, businesses and other organizations this week. We are so grateful for the compassion we see towards those that are struggling. This week, the Grand Forks Credit Union donated $3000, plus over 200 lbs in groceries to the Food Bank. As well, Credit Union employee Jeff Fero produced a wonderful video of the Food Bank (check it out on our Home Page if you haven’t seen it). We also received donations of cash and/or groceries from the Grand Forks Aquatic Centre, Perley School, Interfor, from Sacred Heart Church (from their kids food drive), Gem Theatre, and from many individuals. And this week we received over $650 from can and bottle refunds at the Bottle Depot over the past year, from members of the community who donated their refund to the Food Bank. To all of you who have supported us, your generosity is the best Christmas gift ever. Thank you. May you and your loved ones be safe and healthy this holiday season. Merry Christmas.
December 19, 2020
The Food Bank was blessed by the generosity of 2 local businesses this week. Grand Forks Realty donated $1000 to help us provide food services to those in need in the Boundary area and Castle Renovation Centre donated $2500, a percentage of their sales of Milgard windows. Thank you to both of these companies for their support of the Food Bank.
December 17, 2020
This week, students from the Grand Forks high school Global Citizen’s Club delivered 721 lbs of food collected in a food drive they organized at the school. Thanks to teacher Kristen Merry, to students Hanna, Sydney, Anna and Sierra who delivered the food, and to all who participated. It is so gratifying to see the young people in our community with this level of compassion and caring.
And thanks also to students at Hutton School who responded to the Grade 5 kindness challenge and donated 294 lbs of groceries for the Food Bank.
Grand Forks area First Responders, November 2020
On Tuesday November 24th, we got a donation of 1177.5 pounds of groceries that was collected in a (highly competitive!) 2 week food drive by First Responder groups (RCMP, BC Ambulance, Grand Forks Fire Department) and delivered to us by ambulance. Thanks for this donation, and for all you do in our community.
Canada Breads
We are so thankful to Canada Breads for the regular weekly donations of bread, bagels, wraps and other bread products they provide. Thanks Scott!
Not a Bloody Luxury Campaign, October 2020
Thanks to everyone who supported the Not a Bloody Luxury campaign we ran in October to raise awareness for Period Poverty and to collect menstrual products to distribute to our clients. What an amazing response! Did you know that 1/3 of Canadians can’t afford menstrual products. At the Food Bank, in addition to food, we offer our clients basic hygiene products like toilet paper, soap, toothpaste and menstrual products. Donations of these basic necessities are always appreciated.
Grand Forks Learning Garden, 2020
We are thankful for the hard working people at the Grand Forks Learning Garden. Not only are they are teaching valuable gardening skills to folks in our community, but they donate the healthy produce they grow to our Food Bank and making a difference in peoples lives!
Covid-19 Response
What a year 2020 has been, as we all have had to adapt to the changes that Covid-19 has brought to the world. At the Boundary Community Food Bank, we have been blessed by the outpouring of support we have received from Food Banks Canada, Food Banks BC, Columbia Basin Trust, Regional Districts, Vancouver Foundation, BC Dairy Farmers and the Phoenix Foundation not to mention the many individuals who have made donations us. Your help has made it possible for us to continue to support those in need in our community during this difficult time.
Farmer’s Market Program, Summer 2020
Thanks to the Province of BC, the Provincial Health Services Authority and local vendors at the Grand Forks Farmer’s Market, we’re pleased to offer the Farmer’s Market Coupon program to qualified clients again this year. This is a great opportunity for our clients to source fresh, nutritious and locally grown produce and other foods … and to have a friendly (and Covid-friendly!) social experience while shopping at the twice-weekly outdoor market.
Mining Feeds, Summer 2020
Osoyoos Credit Union, June 2020
How lucky were we to be visited by the Osoyoos Credit Union with a surprise donation of $2000.00! We are so grateful to have the support of community members and businesses as we navigate these difficult times. Looking forward to the smiles of appreciation and relief when we’re able to provide fresh food to our clients with this money!
Wooden Spoon Promo, June 2020
The Wooden Spoon has launched a new “take and bake” menu and will be donating 20% of proceeds from this initiative to the Food Bank. Not only will you get a tasty and nutritious meal, you’ll be supporting local business, local farmers and the Food Bank. How can you go wrong?
Grand Forks Credit Union, June 2020
Today we had a chance to meet and graciously accept a staff-raised donation from the compassionate people at the Grand Forks Credit Union. Community members like these are what keep us going in our fight against food insecurity.
Evergreen Tree Planting Crew Donation, June 2020
2020 has been a remarkable year in many ways. We are so blessed at the Food Bank to be the recipient of amazing generosity from so many different individuals and groups. This week we received almost $2000 from the Evergreen tree planting crews who are working in the Grand Forks and Mt. Baldy areas. The crews, recognizing that they are fortunate to be able to keep working during the Covid-19 crisis, have donated a percentage of their wages from tree planting to help less fortunate people in the area. Most years we see these crews around town as they replenish supplies, do laundry etc. but this year they have hired support people to do these tasks and keep themselves and our communities safe. Thank you for this consideration and for your generous donation.
BuyLow Foods, May 26, 2020
Thanks BuyLow Foods, and especially Danny, who recently sourced and donated a pallet load of reclaimed food to the Boundary Community Food Bank. Do you know that our Food Bank distributes over 50,000 non-perishable items every year? This donation is a big help to us in meeting that demand.
Rockwool Donation, May 13, 2020
This week we received a $5000 donation from Rockwool, thanks to donations from the company contractors and staff, with matching funds from Rockwool. This is a big help to the Food Bank, as we continue to meet unprecedented demand for our services.
Rotary Donation, May 9, 2020
Rotary members Don Coulclough and Rob Ogloff deliver a check for $4000 to the Food Bank, on behalf of all rotary club members. Since Rotary hasn’t been having regular weekly meetings, the club decided to redirect some of these funds to our local food bank. Thanks to the Rotary Club for their continued support!!
Plant Sale, May 9, 2020
Our plant sale was a huge success. Thanks to all who helped with this event, and to the community for supporting us with your purchases and donations. We’re looking forward to repeating this next year – bigger and better, and maybe without the need for social distancing measures?
Food Bank President Mike Wakelin, showing off turkeys donated by the Grand Forks division of Rockwool. Rockwool recently supplied us with 22 turkeys that we were able to distribute to clients.
We had the pleasure of touring Save On Foods staff around the Food Bank today. Save On is a major contributor to our Food Bank. Thanks to them, we are able to provide our clients meat, dairy, deli products, produce, bread and baked goods in addition to grocery items. What amazing support. Thank you Save On!
A huge thanks to Grand Forks Rotary for their recent donation of $2000 cash to the Food Bank. Rotary also donated $2300 in Boundary Bucks to us. These are gift cards, in $5 and $20 amounts, that can be used at many businesses in Grand Forks, Greenwood and Midway. We’ll be handing them out to our clients in February.
Our winter soup program is finished for the year. We hope to be able to offer this again next winter.
We are so grateful for all the donations we receive from individuals and organizations within our community. Your help makes it possible for us to help those who need it.
Thanks to the many organizations in the community for their support. CIBC, Perley School, Hutton School, Grand Forks and District Recreation Centre, Roxul, Interfor, BC Ambulance, Body Edge Fitness, the Credit Union, LeeAnne Gailey Hairstudio as well as several other groups and many individuals generously donated cash or food to the Food Bank this holiday season.
What a great community! Thank you all!
Here are some photos of our facility and our volunteers. Our space is set up to let clients choose the foods that best suit their household, from canned goods to produce to meats and dairy products.
boundarycommunityfoodbank.ca 